Robert S. Kenny

{{Short description|Canadian communist politician (1905–1993)}}

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| name = Robert S. Kenny

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| birth_date = {{Birth date|1905|02|02}}

| birth_place = Lindsay, Canada

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1993|09|28|1905|02|02}}

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| alma_mater = Riverdale Collegiate Institute

| party = Communist Party of Canada

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Robert "Bert" S. Kenny (2 February 1905 – 28 September 1993){{cite journal|last1=Dondertman|first1=Anne|last2=Purdy|first2=Sean|title=The Robert S. Kenny Collection on Communism and Radicalism at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto|journal=Labor History|date=November 4, 1998|volume=39|issue=4|pages=397–405|doi=10.1080/00236679812331387474}}{{cite journal|title=Notebook/Carnet|journal=Labour/Le Travail|date=1994|volume=33|pages=377–379|jstor=25143835}} was a member of the Communist Party of Canada, and a collector of books, documents, and other materials pertaining to the radical and labour movements, particularly in Canada.{{cite book|last1=Purdy|first1=Sean|title=Radicals and Revolutionaries: The History of Canadian Communism from the Robert S. Kenny Collection|url=https://archive.org/details/radicalsrevoluti0000purd|url-access=registration|date=1998|publisher=University of Toronto Library|location=Toronto|isbn=0772760268}}

Kenny was born of Irish descent in Lindsay, Ontario. He graduated in Toronto from Riverdale Collegiate Institute and later lived and worked in Cleveland and Montréal before returning to Toronto. By the 1950s, he was well-known as a bibliophile with a special interest in collecting materials on communism and other radical and revolutionary movements.{{cite news|title=Bulletin No. 7 News Letter, December, 1951 – Labour Productions|url=http://www.bsc-sbc.ca/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/News_51Dec.pdf|accessdate=29 January 2018|publisher=La Société bibliographique du Canada – Bibliographical Society of Canada|date=December 25, 1951|location=Toronto|page=4}}

His collection of approximately 25,000 items, the Robert S. Kenny Collection,{{cite web|title=History, Politics and Economics|url=http://www.library.utoronto.ca:80/fisher/polit.htm|website=Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library|publisher=University of Toronto|accessdate=29 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000902223351/http://www.library.utoronto.ca/fisher/polit.htm|archive-date=2 September 2000|date=October 15, 1996|url-status=dead}} is held in the University of Toronto Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library. For several years, the Robert S. Kenny Prize in Marxist & Labour/Left Studies was awarded in his honour.{{Cite web|url=https://fisher.library.utoronto.ca/events-exhibits/kenny-prize-and-lecture|title=Kenny Prize and Lecture}}